The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-04-12
BURMAHS PEOPLES.
Interesting Data Concerning their Origin,
Habits and Customs.

MT. a. a Dflce gives the proceedings
of the Royal Geographical Society an
interesting account of the country and
peoples Of Burmah. The various
peoples who inhabit the last addition to
the British Empire appear 10 be all of
Mongolian afiinities, but they differ
from each other rs widely rs do the
races of Indo-EurOpean stock. Out of
the total population, which may re
placed NJ seven millions and quarter.
the true Burmese are about one-half,
the rest belonging To- the races known
as hnrens. Kakhyens. Khycn>. Shans
and Talaing. The whole of these races
of the peoples who are not dominant in
in Indo-China, descended at various
periods either from China or from
Tibet. and may be considered for the
most part as more rless Sinicised abO-
rigipal peoples who have fed south
ward to escape the political power of
China. No two authorities seem to
agree respecting the relative dates ut
which all these various peoples entered
the peninsula. The Talaing was GER
tainly i'll possession of Pegu and Ar
racan before the Burman, and the Tai
ain@ race still forms the bulk of the
population i'm the delta of the Irrawadi
and the Sittang. The Talaing is usually
considered to be- related to the KOlarian
of HinduStan. In person he is smaller.
plumper. faircr and less hard-featurcd
than his Burmese conquerOrs.
Less seems to be known about the
KarenS than fhe Talaing, but Lacou-
perie believes that thay were dominant
in lndu-China previous to- the irrup-
ton Of the various Races of ShanS. Mr..
Bryce believes that in Burmah they
pOSt-date the TibetanS. There are ut the
present time two very different races
within Burmese territory who bear the
name of Karens. One of these is the
Karennce> or Red Karens. sO-called
from the color of their breeches-a
tribe of umtamable head-humteTs, own
ing allegiance To no one; and the white
KarenS. quiet aud inoffensive race in
habitin@ some districts of Lower Bur
NAH. especially the mountains of Ten.
Isserim.
The Burmese proper are among the
oldest people of the country. Over
whelmed by the Shan> they after awhile
arose again, and imposed their yoke
upon their former masters. As race
they have shown great vitality; while
as individuals. though habitually indo-
lent, they "a" capable of great displays
of energy when sufficiently aroused.
The BuIman is the Partisan of Asia.
None can excel him i'm all the gI'aces of
politeneS>. The @OOd-humOred. hard
working but less courteous Shan APP
pears TO him savage. I'm stature the
Burmese are inferior tO the Shan,
though taller than the Talaing. The
great Shan race. though less numerous
in Burmah than the Burmese them
eSlves. is now preponderant in the
peninsula. The SiImc>e are Shan, as are
the peoples To the north of them,
whether paying tribute tn China, Bur-
NAH. AMMAN or Siam. Some defect in
the Shan character seems Ia prevent
their a@glomeration into large masses,
and thus il has come TO pass that most
of their Princes are tributary, though it
can not he disputed that the northern
Shans of BUI1nah and the Laos States
are the most energetic peoples of the
peninsula.
The kakhyenS are rude people,
when compared with the Shans Oh the
Burmese. They inIabit the hiIIy dis
tricts of Assam and northwestern Bur-
nah. and have recently. owing To- the
weakness of the Burmese power, en-
croached toward the south. la Assam
they are known a. SiugphO>. The
khyens are settled i'm the mountains
between. BWrlah and Bengal. The
Burmese proper are chiefly settled in
the upper part of the IrT;.wldi delta,
in narrow belt on each side of the
lrrawadi in Upper Burnah. the upper
valley of the Sittang. amt the Moo val
lev. between the irIJwadi and its tribu-
tary, the kyendwin.
The total area of BuTmah i about
230.OOO square miles. and = thus nearly
equal To the State 0f Texas. The
greater part of this area l. uncultivated
mountain and forest. AMI Mr.. Bryce
states that not above une->eventh even
of Lower Burmah j. cultivated. The
lower part of the combined deltas of
the Irrawadi and the Sittang receive
one hundred inches of rain annually,
but this is diminished One-half at the
apex of the delta. and the plain of the
Upper Irrawadi is deficient in rainfall.
and depends for its water supply upon
the riyer.-N. j. Independent.
How the Japs Measure Time.
A party of An. rricans, describing .
{. III ~,